Sunday, 14 August 2011

WHAT DOES A WHOLE HUMAN BEING LOOK LIKE?

AND HOW TO BECOME ONE! ---- I wandered away for a few days to Santa Fe for a movie "fix": (Cowboys and Aliens--2 and a half stars---Rise of the Planet of the Apes---4 stars---Captain America --2 stars) --Began reflecting on the above questions----decided to pursue the answers by returning to Tierra Amarilla, NM to chat again with Paul Namkung---A living example. The landscape enroute is a joy to pass through--will show more of it later. It is Georgia Okeefe (famous artist) country--where she lived and worked. That's Ghost Ranch ahead on the right.

Down there is the little village I'm header for.

It made National news once as the focus of land grant fights---google Reies Lopez Tijerina for the full story. (still alive--and returned recently for a visit)

But here's what I came for----Paul sits down for another session---what I want to know is more about his "personality path"----what choices or experiences help nudge a person up the scale of being. About one person in a hundred becomes SELF ACTUALIZED---exhibits the quality of creative aliveness. (Want to know more?----scroll down---I have condensed Maslow's study of "whole" people---see how you stack up against the best that humanity has to offer---you may be higher than you think. I will also point to some role models. )

Paul is a delight to chat with---tells great stories----He is the eldest child---was a lifelong maverick, lover of music, fun and creative challenges. His interest were so broad that he neglected for a long time settling down to a career. Eventually became a social worker, couselor, program initiator. Along the way he built a house in the forest, raised pigs, chickens and rabbits, invented, manufactured, sold his drums and then settled here and started this coffeehouse. Says he's learned to enjoy the processes of life rather than end products.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES: As open and responsive as he was, I still come away not understanding why some people climb high on the ladder of being and most don't. I don't want to believe that it's genes but maybe it is. I speculate that a long series of tiny choices---small moments of curiosity/ creativity /courage build on each other---opening door after door of new experience / insight----making subsequent moments of them easier and more fun----activating a feedback loop--a self-enhancing spiral--- upwards---like evolution-- that may last a lifetime and giving to the world a polished, exciting, contributing personality. But I'm guessing! Perhaps my readers have a theory that explains advanced personalities.

Here are a few personalities, fictional and real that I think illustrate self actualization:

Zorba the Greek (movie)

Gus McCrae--(movie--Lonesome Dove)

Benjamin FranklinVoltaireWarren Buffet (see what he said today in the NY Times)

Below, I have summarized Abraham Maslow's study of "whole" people.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-ACTUALIZED PEOPLE

1. HAVE MORE EFFICIENT PERCEPTION Unusual ability to detect the spurious, the fake, dishonesty in personality In general, to judge people correctly and efficiently. They can see reality more clearly.

2. ARE NOT FRIGHTENED BY THE UNKNOWN Tolerate, even enjoy ambiguity

3. ACCEPT THEMSELVES AND OTHERS Self - A relative lack of overriding guilt, crippling shame and severe anxiety They accept their own human nature in stoic style, their shortcomings and discrepancies. Others - They also accept others with their shortcomings and discrepancies.

7. ARE MOTIVATED BY AN URGE TO GROW (Versus deficiency motivation) Living vs. preparing to live They don’t strive, they develop They attempt to grow to perfection - to develop more and more fully their own style.

8. FOCUS ON PROBLEMS OUTSIDE THEMSELVES They are problem-centered rather than ego-centered. They usually have some mission in life.

9. HAVE THE QUALITY OF DETACHMENT They remain unruffled, undisturbed by that which produces turmoil in others. They find it easy to be aloof, reserved, calm, serene. They take personal misfortune without reacting violently. They are more objective and therefore can concentrate better. They don’t need others in the ordinary sense. They are self-governing, self-disciplined. They are the deciding agent rather than a pawn. They have more free will.

10. HAVE A GREATER NEED FOR PRIVACY

11. ARE MORE INDEPENDENT OF CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT

12. HAVE A CONTINUED FRESHNESS OF APPRECIATION They count their blessings.

13. HAVE HAD A MYSTIC EXPERIENCE (a peak experience) These are experiences, usually brief, of limitless horizons opening up to the vision. The feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and more helpless than ever. The feeling of great ecstasy, wonder, awe. The loss of placing in time and space. The conviction that something extremely important and valuable has happened so that One is to some extent transformed and strengthened.